


Epilogue

by HelfenundWehren



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, Gen, I just can't wait for the nest movie, Optimistic!Thor, Post Infinity War, Slightly Depressed Cap, Some disintegrated people that weren't confirmed in the movie, mentions of Bucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 15:12:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14696778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelfenundWehren/pseuds/HelfenundWehren
Summary: The world has lost half of it's people in a single snap. How is our favorite Captain handling the situation.





	Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as something completely different but then I didn't want Cap to be sad anymore. This is a little drabble of something I think could occur between the movies.

The snap, that damn snap was all he’d heard for the last month. Every time it was quiet he heard the snap. He’d started having a record play constantly. If for no other reason than that the noise meant he wouldn’t hear the snapping and maybe, just maybe, he could forget what it had meant. Maybe he could forget what had happened. Of course, he couldn’t stop the snap from sounding in his dreams. But his dreams focused on something else, on someone else. Bucky.

Every night is was the same “Steve…” and watching as his friend was turned to dust. He hadn’t reacted then. He’d been too shocked with the ending of the battle. Steve hadn’t understood completely what was coming their way but he thought they were going to win. When Thor came in at the last moment and hit Thanos with that axe he could have sworn they’d won. But then there’s been that snap. And half of the world was gone in a matter of a few minutes.

In the immediate aftermath of what happened, Steve took control over the small band in Wakanda to catalog the missing and the dead. The missing was easier to determine. The dead were harder on them. There were arguments about who they should count as dead. Did those who disintegrated count as dead? Or could they be counted as missing? Okoye refused to call T’Challa dead. Even M’Baku seemed hesitant to do so. Eventually, they decided on calling them part of the missing. Steve didn’t agree but he also wasn’t looking to fight the remainder of the Wakandan forces by saying that they were all dead.

The question of who would rule over Wakanda fell to Shuri, who had come out of this alive. Injured but alive. With the classification of T’Challa as missing, they wouldn’t be holding the ritual for the next leader, she would rule in her brother’s place. No one dared argue it and Steve backed the woman who had brought his friend back to him. With that settled, Steve, Thor, Rocket, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey got into the quinjet to head back to New York.

Rocket was an interesting addition to their ragtag team. He was obviously not a creature of Earth, although he looked like a raccoon. Thor kept calling him a rabbit and no one corrected him. There was too much to take in when they got to New York. Buildings were smoldering from collisions from planes and other aircraft. New York City was a mess. It had been three days and chaos had erupted. And everyone was asking the same thing: “what happened”? No one had a good answer for them. “But what about the Avengers? Couldn’t they have stopped this”? Again, no good answers. And the remaining Avengers didn’t stay long in the city after they arrived. They went to their headquarters outside of the city to set up shop and figure out next steps. They’d been there for a month now. No one was going to come in arresting Steve and Natasha because all the members who wanted them arrested were gone.

A month had passed slowly with no answers. Slowly, everyone missing had been cataloged. A population of 7.6 billion reduced to 3.8 billion with a literal snap. No class was spared, no age group left untouched. Parents lost their children, children lost their parents, and entire families were wiped out. There was no one left in the English Royal Family. The American government had been reduced. The President had disappeared and the Vice President had since taken his place. Some countries who hadn’t lost their entire governments and were still stable were sending aid to less stable areas. There were calls to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting or something, but many asked what good would it do? No, they needed to focus on rebuilding.

Steve had spent this month trying to unhear that snap. It was unlike him to be so devastated. It wasn’t just the loss of Bucky, although Natasha had suggested that was the case. No, it was the entire situation. He couldn’t wrap his head around so many people being gone. He assumed at this point that Tony was dead. Pepper had been one of the disappeared. It would be better for Tony to not return to a world where Pepper was gone.

Where had they gone wrong?

“Steven.” Cap’s head shot up from where it had been resting on his arms as he thought over the last month, some Sinatra playing softly in the background.

“Thor? Any updates?”

“No, I came to talk. You have been sad my friend. Hope is not lost.” Thor could be irritatingly optimistic.  Steve rolled his eyes and went back to thinking. Or he tried to, but a strong hand was on his shoulder and his office chair was turned. Instead of a smile, he was greeted with a hard look and it reminded Cap that Thor _was_ a god after all.

“Hope is not lost.” He repeated. “There is no hope for my people; Thanos killed them where they stood. However, we can get everyone who turned to dust back. We just need to find Thanos, take the gauntlet from him, and use it ourselves.”

Thor made it sound so easy. But it wasn’t. They’d all gone at him with everything they’d had and it had done nothing. Steve just sighed and took in a deep breath before responding with a soft “how”?

“I am still working on that. But you should not give up hope, Captain. With Stormbreaker I can take us anywhere in the universe. We just have to find out where Thanos is first. He will show himself again. Of that I am certain.”

How could Thor still be so optimistic? All of his people were dead, he was the last Asgardian. He should be enraged, devastated, a basket case. He was none of those things. Steve just stared at him as he wondered what it was that kept Thor going. Surely it couldn’t be hope?

As if reading his thoughts, Thor gave a smile, patting Cap’s shoulder. “Hope can make you capable of anything. My people are gone, but I was charged with protecting the people of Midgard as well. I failed in doing so. I have faith we will work together and defeat Thanos and bring the people of Midgard back. This time, I will aim for the head.”

That made Steve crack a ghost of a smile. Yes, Thor was irritatingly optimistic at times, but it was also contagious. Slowly, he was nodding his head, feeling like there really was hope. “You’re right. There is hope. We will find him and we will win this time. Maybe using the gauntlet tired him out. We can use that to our advantage.” But how would they find him? Steve shook his head. They could plan for that. But, for now, they had to plan. They could do this. They could get everyone back. He _would_ see Bucky again.

 “So you think Shuri would help us out?...And we need Rocket.” He had the beginnings of a plan coming to life.


End file.
